So, the children’s mother and I bought a house.
“Let’s not tell the children,” she said.
“Okay,” I replied.
So we didn’t.
Now before I share why, let me say that we all have a relationship with our houses, and in my family I’m the one with a sort of longsuffering in this union.
This is the story.

So, I just filled out Canada’s most recent census, barely beating the May 31 deadline and thus staying out of jail and fulfilling this duty of those of us living in this great country. Before letting me go, the questionnaire asked if I or anyone in the family would mind if all the sordid details [...]

The one thing that always helps us as a family re-acclimatize to life back in Canada is Save the Mothers’ annual Steps for Change walk. It unfolded in 15 municipalities across North America on Saturday. The kids’ roller blades and bikes and whatever else is needed, after being in Canadian storage for eight months, have [...]

So, it’s Day 5 of our official return to our own home, Day 4 of the kids’ return to school, that is their Canadian school, this, their annual routine here in Hamilton for the next couple of months. Of course, this is long enough to get new clothes (thank God for mothers willing to do [...]

It was a summer party. “Hey,” I said to the man who had just walked in the doorway. “You almost look like someone I used to know.” He laughed. “And look!” I said. “There he is, on the wall!” He looked up at an old video clip of a wedding, with him in it, and laughed [...]

Before the news of the week, the sad news, let me say that my new life motto is “Doing less and liking it more.” This is why the doc says I’ll live to be 100 and why I’m at my second summer camp in two weeks, this time on a lake of undisclosed location with [...]

In time to celebrate for Canada Day, the country has a new citizen with a brand new Canadian passport in hand. Her name is Hannah. She has a story. Faithful Reader knows some of, it, how gruelling an experience this has all been for some years as expressed in this New Vision piece. But after, [...]

It was the last night in my Canadian home. The day, a busy one, the end of a stretching week, was spent keeping some semblance of order, some idea of knowing what, with the dwindling time left, was still most important. I was outside my front door, in the dark, fumbling with my keys, looking for [...]

Thomas Froese is a storyteller and veteran journalist of 30 years. The Canadian author and columnist writes about news, travel and life, often from his experiences in the Arab World and Africa, where he lived for 15 years and where he still returns to teach literature. Thomas also writes about fatherhood and family life as The Daily Dad.Contact Thomas.

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